Sean Covernton

CRAM

2012-01-24T00:18:00.001-08:00

Still busy. So I'm cramming pencil sketches onto one page. Push crush smash. And one stray doodle of a cranky little girl that's my favorite.

Oh but see in the crammy page? That mustache guy in the middle with the jester hat? THAT'S A REAL GUY. I saw him from the bus this morning.

Sick.

2012-01-08T22:17:00.000-08:00

I would like to put that in a sick, wibbly wobbly font but I can't. So anyways. Sick weekend. Sore throat. Coughing. Apartment hunting in pouring rain with a broken umbrella. Wah.

So in the spirit of making myself feel better I've drawn a scared man in a nice suit with a big old book on some stairs scared of something. Because now is not the time to develop creatively. It's time to sink back into my favorite things and wallow for a bit.

Wallowwallowwallow.

The Last 0f 2011 and a first of 2012

2012-01-05T19:44:00.000-08:00

Happy new Year! DAMN I've been busy! What with animation and Christmas and everything. Ugh. Fun but... ugh. So not much posting. Here's some sketches I meant to colour but never did, what was going to be my Christmas card that didn't get finished and something I tried in flash and photoshop that was meant to be somewhat Pascal Campion-ish but fell way short. I think the outline on his back is the nail in the coffin. Blog fodder!

LASERFACE!

2011-12-08T17:48:00.000-08:00

I think offscreen two pigeons have just been lasered in the face. I have NO idea what's happening here.

I've had a weird few days where I've had something like a NEED to draw a glowy robot. So... that took up some time today. But it NEEDED to be done or else I couldn't focus.

In a way he kind of reminds me of the little evil alien figurine you could get with Construx. Maybe it's because of the purple and the angry eyes.

HAPPY DECEMBER!

2011-12-02T01:25:00.000-08:00

Gurgle! Glub! Drowning in work! Must find time to do Christmas Shopping and laundry! Yet somehow I managed to do a fun little colour thing. I find colouring relaxing. I'm beginning to get a little tired of the same sort of graphic style I've been playing with though. Time to try something new. Or, maybe a different composition that isn't, "three quarter character design standing in front of texture"... as soon as I have, you know, some more time to do that.

Argh

2011-11-20T02:30:00.001-08:00

OK this has gone on too long. I'm waiting on some decent pictures of my Hallowe'en costume and other miscellaneous projects to do my big "What the hell I've been up to"post. I'll get the pictures up eventually. Hopefully before the end of the month. In the meantime have some stuff.

King Death

2011-09-25T22:55:00.000-07:00

In a perfect world this is what my Hallowe'en costume would look like. And it would have glowed in the dark and been whispy and ethereal. But I've traded in "whispy and ethereal" for "grim and funerary" Photos when I get some decent ones of the progress but in the meantime here's the original sketch for the concept and a fun goofy cartoon I did of it later. The original sketch is reasonably representative of what I've got so far actually.

Frost

2011-09-23T16:58:00.000-07:00

I was going to post Severard and Frost together but Frost looked.... terrible. But at work I had some time so I did a Frost that suddenly worked. So... Severard will be posted soon I hope. In the meantime here's Frost. I'm trying to emulate my friend May's very graphic style. Severard is in a totally different style anyways.

Shanka!

2011-09-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

A quick drawing of a the Shanka while waiting for scenes. The thing I remember most in the descriptions of them (When we eventually got one two books in) was that they had wide flat heads, long hairy arms and teeth so deformed their lips couldn't close over them. I guess long hairy arms doesn't necessarily mean long hair on their arms but I had kind of pictured them as a feral orcy orangutang race. I would have drawn the arm hair way long but it looks weird when I do that.

Scuttler

2011-09-16T16:21:00.000-07:00

This dungeon dwelling creep was drawn while I was trying to come up with a design for a torturer. I was watching The Pit and the Pendulum at the time. Then there were legs everywhere and... teeth... and... yeah I dunno what happened.

Oh and I realize the name "Scuttle" is already taken but this is a different kind of scuttle. Less ship-sinking more multi-legged lurking. And it's Scuttle*R* so it's totally different. YOU HEAR ME DISNEY? TOTALLY DIFFERENT! Plus they also hogged the name "Creeper." Jerks.

The Banshee!

2011-09-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

Look out, Darby O'Gill!

Goodness it's mid September. The Season is upon us! Ladies and Gentlemen, start your glueguns.

Insomnia drawing.

2011-08-30T22:26:00.000-07:00

Drawing WAY too late at night listening to Simon Schama talk about the Plantagenets.

Some Wests

2011-08-28T02:41:00.000-07:00

Gillen beat me to the first post. Honestly I don't remember any of Collum West's defining characteristics but I always kind of saw him as the simple-looking farmboy type with a very honest face. The kind of guy who can be everyone's friend because there's no hating someone who's basically a really good person. I figured he always looked at least a little confused or frustrated. And people read that confusion and frustration as meaning "I don't understand the situation." But really it means "I can't believe you DON'T understand the situation.

I'd work more on these and colour them but my damn Cintiq's at work. So no colour for you.

Back from Winnipeg

2011-08-23T00:54:00.000-07:00

I'm back!

*confetti*

Been playing with different types of watercolour paper for a project. The hot press scans much better than the stuff I used to use. Most of these drawings are from the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature. Except for the ones that aren't.

Murderered

2011-07-16T18:32:00.000-07:00

First one of these I've done in ages that's sort of turned out. The newer ones were getting too complicated. This one I think has more of the feeling I was originally going for. Except I guess this is more a Murderer than a Murderered. Fun drawing that beard though. I should draw beards more. It's a character trait I don't use much. GREAT BIG BUSHY BEARDS!

Vampires? In July?

2011-07-12T23:44:00.000-07:00

Sure what the hell. It's not like we ever see the damn sun up here. Have some gloom to go with your gloom.

The Vampire character was designed to be sort of in the style of that old game Braindead 13. I'm trying to break my habit of drawing wee tiny beady eyes. Although I really like wee tiny beady eyes.

*edit!* I've been flipping back and forth between colour variations for hours now and can't decide which version I like better so to hell with it I'm posting both versions

Also I'm swamped with work which is the BEST time to have a crappy computer that is dying. On the upside, a new computer should be here in 2 weeks and I'm told it will be powerful enough to save Greece.

Bayaz

2011-07-07T14:57:00.000-07:00

OK so I didn't go for "Hard-Assed, You're All Stupid" Bayaz. I went for "Friendly, Avuncular, Let's Go on an Adventure!" Bayaz. When we meet him he's all jovial and nice and wears a flower necklace a little girl gives to him. Didn't draw that in though. It made him look like a cosplayer who got caught at a luau.

LeChuck

2011-07-04T17:52:00.000-07:00

Just having a bit of fun with the old animation disk. It has been way too long.

Run, Astral Lizard! RUN!

2011-06-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

Yeah this... is not what I started out drawing. Then I went little bananas colouring.

NEW D&D CHARACTER!

2011-06-29T00:29:00.000-07:00

Maybe. Young Master Gillen is looking to take up the reins as Dungeon Master (NERD!) and so I'm all excited to be able to design a character again to simply play as! So this is Hireith. No she's not based on the girl from Brave. Yes she's based on Osha from Game of Thrones. Yes, her name is the only word I know in Welsh which I know entirely because it was explained in an episode of Are You Being Served when they're rehearsing a tribute to Young Mr. Grace for his birthday. Also the number Mr. Rumbold calls to tell the lady that they've found her missing diamonds is 965-0721. Which also proves that at some point telephone numbers in the UK weren't always forty six numbers long. Why am I even still typing?

Also, hey, Blog, why is "&" not allowed in the blog labels? Bad form, old bean. Bad form. This is exactly the sort of thing that made it impossible in days gone by to hunt down a decent recording of the A&W Root Bear theme.

Wyrd House

2011-06-25T14:52:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, on a hill with one road, there stood an old house with one window and one door. One gloomy autumn day one strange little boy inherited the unusual house and learned that, locked behind the one door and shuttered behind the one window, there were a lifetime of secrets.

Metal Planet!

2011-06-12T22:41:00.001-07:00

Hey! I've been working on a pitch now for about a month and this isn't it. This is a second pitch that I started working at on Friday night due to a sudden unexpected burst of inspiration. Thanks, Iron Savior!

Posting BONANZA!

2011-05-21T16:12:00.001-07:00

I was going to finish stripping my trunk today but nuts to that. It's cloudy... and rainy... AGAIN... but there's a new Hammerfall album out and I was listening thinking "I'll do a quick little Barbarian speedpainting..." several hours later.... Conan is attacking a forest that has been germinated with Essence of Beholder. That or he was shrunk down SUPERTINY and is stuck in the eyeball plant at the beginning of Labyrinth take your pick.

Friday NIGHT post

2011-05-21T01:09:00.000-07:00

I know I'm surprised as you are that I'm not out drinking rum and commiserating with fellows about how bad Stranger Tides probably is but circumstances prevented sufficient enthusiasm from being generated hence I stayed in, stripped wallpaper out of my stinky steamer trunk and did some drawings. I must say I totally chickened out on the bottle imps. I really wanted to do watercolour paintings of them but I'm a traditional media wussy. I think it's a good rule to never start out with a new (ish) medium with a really specific idea of how you want it to turn out or you'll just end up fighting and fighting and fighting and probably storming away and doing it digitally anyways. Also I should probably try and fix the second imp so that his tail is sticking out through a hole in the cork otherwise why's he still in there when he's so grumpy!

Adding another stab at Dow. Another swing and a miss. He keeps coming out like a Stabbington Brother and then I overwork him to make him not a Stabbington brother. One day, Black Dow, I will draw you properly.

Weird dream

2011-05-19T12:53:00.000-07:00

Trying to draw this weird character that I saw in a dream. He's the French president. I don't think this is quite right. it's halfway between him and RK maroon from Roger Rabbit.

Wait what? Where'd April go?

2011-05-10T01:24:00.000-07:00

Yeah... month without posting! For shaaame! The thing I wanted to post for April got delayed further so... here's some filler. I'm very bummed out by the weather of late and I'm firmly stuck in Pirate Mode. Arr. And having been drawing pirates almost exclusively since February I needed to get out of the rut. So I stole the Klei Sketch sketch club theme. I'd apologize, but... I'm a pirate. Arr.

And yes I've been trying to go to Life drawing again. Not enough hours in the day/days in the week to get there every week though.

EDIT I changed the voodoo lady a bit. Added some more colour and some linework to separate the forms a little better. I've never really got the hang of doing coloured lines and they're... Kinda half there and half not. Too timid I think. Well I'll try again next time.

March Post. Arr.

2011-03-21T11:08:00.000-07:00

Hey! Wow... been a while. Busy month says I. Which is why I deemed it necessary to stay up late last night drawing a crazy old drunken pirate woman. I'll probably do a big drawing dump soon of stuff I've been working on in my spare time. Also I blame the gym. I started going to the gym 3 times a week a month or two ago recently since I turned the big Three-Oh. I despise it. I resent almost every second that I'm there and not working on drawings or ideas. But as a friend of mine quite rightly pointed out if you don't have your health...

Also of note... this drawing features a newly scanned pretty shiny texture overlay! OoOOOoh!

Vampires for Valentines

2011-02-15T01:46:00.001-08:00

OK... few hours late. And I reserve the right to take this down and fix it when I see it without sleep-bleary eyes tomorrow. But for now here it is. The yearly Vampire Valentines day entry: Check. I was trying something weird with the painting here. I used no lines to define the silhouettes. Even in the first stages beyond a really loose sketch this was all blocked in with shapes and the details worked out through shadow. It was a very different way to have to think. I solved a lot of problems that came up... others never quite got resolved. All in all a lot of fun and an interesting challenge.

And it takes my mind off how much I hate Valentine's Day. Grump.

Anime.... ish (?)

2011-02-06T02:52:00.001-08:00

So I've been on this anime kick. And I'm rubbish at anime. Though it's always fun to play around with different styles. But it's got me thinking about Japan. Here's a weird thing. It's about a year since I hit up London. The whole experience was freaking wonderful. A large part of that is because it was in all ways exactly what I wanted. London was so... Londony. It was upbeat and colourful and alive in all the ways I'd hoped and it was also gloomy and somber and full of interesting dead people. Same goes for Ireland and Spain. They were more or less as I'd always hoped they'd be ever since I was a kid and wanted to travel.

Japan though...

Japan has always been on my list of places to go but it has suddenly struck me that it's for an entirely odd reason. It's because I like anime. Whereas my notions about London were coloured by movies I've seen, books I've read and photographs of haunted castles that I'd poured over in the library, all the things I want to see in Japan... don't exist.

The stuff I've watched that makes me want to go to Japan is always set in the far flung future... and is watercolour or photoshop. I've seen so much more anime than I have Japanese live-action films that the part of Japan that is really interesting to me is entirely fictitious. I'd never really thought about it this way before.

Weird eh?

EDIT!!

It's WAY too late for me to be up playing in photoshop but whatever. Have another sthpooky ghotht. I had so much fun doing the other one I figured I'd do another. She took a lot more tinkering to get right than the first fella.

OMG Sthpooky Ghothts!

2011-01-30T12:39:00.000-08:00

Anyone else feeling a little Haunted Mansiony today? Also in an anime sort of mood lately. Maybe more on that later. Anyways this is probably my last post from my apartment of 7 years. So long, apartment. So long Ghost of Errol Flynn even though you never showed up. So long cubby that was perfect for setting up my 2 way mirror gag even though I never properly rigged up the black light behind you. Hello less expensive rent and balcony!

Onwards to adventure!

Avast! Piratical procrastination off the starboard bow!

2011-01-19T21:10:00.000-08:00

No notes today so I started doing some pirate paintings. Well *a* pirate painting. This pirate painting. Arr.

wasting time @ work...

2011-01-14T15:56:00.000-08:00

Drew this while waiting on some notes... what the hell is this guy? A "heavy gunner" I named the file I think. Yeah that's what he is A heavy gunner. Why not.

EDIT and also here is a battlefield commander with EERIE PSYCHIC POWERS! because the notes took a while getting in and it was too late to start thinking properly.

So this is 2011...

2011-01-08T20:43:00.001-08:00

OK, 2011. So far we haven't been getting a long. You're scary. I am getting a negative vibe from you but I'm gonna work with you. We'll get through it and gods damn you we'll enjoy it!

Ahem... anyways in the post this week are mainly doodles. I'm trying to figure out what Sand Dan Glockta looks like. Young Master Gillen had a stab at him too on his blog (He turned me onto the most excellent First Law series) and I would like to refine the design until it looks like the character in my head. I don't think he looks crippled enough. This poor bastard's body is a road map of pain. Also there's that pasty skinny guy. I'm not in love with the drawing but it was more of an attempt to get the idea across. More about him later maybe if I continue the rest of the characters.

Well folks, that wraps up 2010 I think.

2010-12-27T17:18:00.000-08:00

Yup. It's been a very interesting year of ghosts, magic, Voltron, hotpants and most importantly the Great Expedition across the pond.

It's been excellent and I have all my friends and family to thank for making every moment of 2010 unforgettable.

Cheers to a fantastic 2011 everybody!

Frosty

2010-11-28T13:02:00.000-08:00

Well the snow's gone but it was around just long enough for me to get all excited and draw some frost giants and barbarians while listening to the new Blind Guardian album on repeat.

Two largely unrelated things

2010-11-23T02:00:00.001-08:00

I am getting better after being rather sick and have taken to pacing my apartment between drawings and reciting The Jabberwocky. Apparently a Vorpal Sword is actually big scissors. Nyquil's great. And another attempt at the Watchmaker's Apprentice. It was originally much darker but because there wasn't a distinct light source it turned muddy so I toned that all down because I like the drawing much better than my shoddy tonal render.

T'was brillig...

The Doctor's Wife

2010-11-15T00:54:00.000-08:00

Well I dunno. I went back and forth and back and forth on this over the last couple days. I wanted some subtle colouration but it looked better heavily oversaturated and essentially monochromatic. Initially I was hoping it could come out more subdued and sombre as opposed to somewhat... I don't know. Saturated. Well it is what it is. I might revisit this with a couple different illustrations later. November seems like it will be a very Clockwork Quartet month. Now if only there were going to be a few more songs coming along in the near future to feed on...

About Bloody Time!

2010-11-10T01:08:00.000-08:00

Yeah I know. Boring blog. Sorry about that. Hallowe'en, Hallowe'en costume, Hallowe'en magic show, Burlesque hosting duties and Voltron mean I've had very little time for extra curricular activities because of all the... err... other extracurricular activities. Anyways. So here's a big page of some drawings from the last while and some photos of me performing spooky magic, in my Mad Scientist costume (Dr. Aleister Grisbane rises again!) and a promo photo that I had taken for what I'm hoping will materlialize into a show next year.

I have no decent photos of the Satan costume I'm afraid but I refuse to put the damn thing into storage until I get one good shot of it so... hopefully in the next while I'll be able to reclaim my couch. That thing is BIIIIG!

Credit for the promotional photograph goes to my good friend Mark Ingram and the picture of The Doctor was taken by Jeff... I'm afraid I don't know his last name but he's a fine fellow if ever I did meet one.

OH and also here's a little thing I'd like to develop further based on Clockwork Quartet's song "The Doctor's Wife" It needs more colour work to take it out of the straight tonal phase and I keep going back and forth on exactly how graphic I want it to get. Originally it was going to be very flat and shape based like the Watchmaker's Apprentice illustration from some time ago. We'll see if this goes that way or becomes its own thing.

PS I wish it to be known that I did NOT hang the lumpy bumpy cobwebs on the Railway stage.

The Plan so far...

2010-10-10T11:04:00.001-07:00

Well based on what I've been able to collect and construct so far... this is the target look. The tail won't be happening unfortunately and the legs are on the chopping block too. The mantle and cloak are under construction. I'm surprised how well the mantle is turning out actually. It's had some pretty severe bumps along the way but last night's work might have saved me.

The staff too... the whole thing is very cumbersome so it might be too much to haul around but I like the idea of the candle-staff. Also I might try to work in a feature where there's a wee flame burst from the top one but... again I'm crazy pressed for time this year (Has there been a year when I'm not? Sigh... I love you October but why we always gotta fight?)

Thump...thump...thump

2010-10-03T18:36:00.001-07:00

Been a while. Thought I was due for some Murderering.

Who's a good kitty...

2010-09-26T02:17:00.000-07:00

More scribbles while I'm waiting for a project to dry. What project you ask? Quake in terror, mortals. Steampunk Satan shall walk amongst ye!

Bird, Lady, Bird-lady and a guy. And a bunny.

2010-09-15T22:18:00.000-07:00

still a-draw'n folks! Project season is nigh so... let the annual Burning of the Fingers with the Gluegun commence!

Will post photos of things of interest as they become interesting and less... cardboardy.

OMG ANOTHER ONE

2010-09-10T00:25:00.000-07:00

I like this face better. Less overworked. Originally I wanted her to be the crazy bird lady with a hair-nest but it didn't go that way. Maybe next time.

It's not what you think.

2010-09-06T02:36:00.000-07:00

Aaand another one tone.... thingy. Now with exciting texture overlay!

The old Octopus-On-The-Head gag!

2010-09-01T00:45:00.000-07:00

But the question is... how did the octopus get on her head if her skirts are all ballooned up? How, I ask you? HOW?!?!

Inspired to draw at last!

2010-08-31T00:30:00.000-07:00

Google searching for costume reference for Hallowe'en (Really doubting I'll get my big idea off the ground due to lack of time) found me looking at some sweet reference that inspired me to get off my fanny and do some drawings. Her face is a little bland but it's better than I usually seem to draw women. Which is "wonky and awkwardly."

It's...um.... I dunno what this is.

2010-08-30T00:50:00.001-07:00

Was playing around idly so... I guess it's a golem... made of clothing... but animated by a skull that gives it maaaagical liiiife! Yeah that's the ticket!

creepy old men

2010-08-25T00:42:00.000-07:00

Had a mighty need to draw something that was not superhero-y. = Old men in suits.

Orcu!

2010-08-03T00:19:00.001-07:00

Well... it was meant to be a female of a tribe of Japanese-Jamaican orcs from Gul-Rom AKA The Island Where Nothing Ever Gets Better. But it went in a slightly different direction. She wasn't meant to be quite as formal and Japanese-inspired as the rest of her orcy kin but I think I went a little too far in the other direction. I just hope she's not too Na'avi like. That would be embarrassing. Oh well. Grugashi is the military leader of the Orcu. He's loosely based on Gouken from SFIV. Very loosely...

Anyways... not sure how much time I'll have for more stuff in the forseeable future since I think I'm heading into a long Voltron tunnel. See you on the other side of that!

Nightmare Seagull

2010-07-28T01:36:00.000-07:00

Voltron has eaten all my time. Which means scant posting I'm afraid. This is pretty much the only thing I've drawn in my spare time since I started. Even as I type this the damn seagull is SHRIEKING like a banshee on the top of my roof. Come on, Seagull! It's, like, 1:30 AM!

Gone Fish'n

2010-07-09T00:13:00.000-07:00

Off to Whistler this weekend for some volleyball action. After the Mighty Computer Crash of 2010 I've lost a lot of material. And tools. So I'm rocking sketchbook to see what I think of the program until I get PS and Flash up and running again.

And I have also decided it's high time I tried to figure out machinery Kinda wing'n it as far as the mechanical logic. But adding a bigass gun makes up for that, right? RIGHT?

wham, wham, wham, wham

2010-07-05T00:42:00.000-07:00

Good heavens, someone's feeling pretty sorry for themselves this weekend. Out of the corner, Mopey you got crap to take care of.

Passive Perception Check Fail

2010-07-01T11:24:00.001-07:00

OK... so this was a little too ambitious to git 'er done in the time I had so there's a lot that's unfinished but the important stuff is there albeit in a rougher state than I'd like. Tweaking, colouring, colour correcting, finishing the weird little snake thing so it's not just my rough blocking, matching it to the hole etc etc etc. But hey... that little guy was a LOT of fun to animate! Wheee!

EDIT put in some higher res video... which my blog post cuts off for some reason so you'll have to view it on the youtube web page

also youtube apparently cuts off the last few frames. Hmm.

heightened stress levels = more posts

2010-06-03T01:05:00.000-07:00

I got a wonderful nudge the other day which also accounts for more drawings. At exactly the right time I recieved a bookful of inspiration from a remarkably thoughtful person that had the wonderful effect of saying "Look at HOW MUCH FUN THIS IS!" No matter how frustrating a contract is you can always go to bed and draw something that makes you forget about it for a while.

So thanks for the nudge to all the nudgers out there.

Rapid Succession posting!

2010-05-31T21:21:00.001-07:00

I am in a much better mood today which I owe to the sun making an expected appearance. In honour of this I am posting a quick speedpainting I did of the volcano that I think reflects at least a little more accurately what I want my players to see. Also I think this is the first time I've ever posted a speedpainting that was actually a speedpainting rather than something I'd intended to be a speedpainting and ended up taking a whole night.

Fine. No really. I don't want summer. Just stay cold and crappy all month.

2010-05-30T17:48:00.000-07:00

I'll just do some more Murderered work. I'm just in the mood today too. Might fire up some Corman dvds and watch my main man Vinnie P do his thing.

Also here's a very strange BG. I wanted to do a painting of somewhere my players will be going in the next few weeks and it turned out accidentally rather Samurai Jackish. Not my intent. I might have another stab at this later.

Also this weekend we had an evening of quickie drawings before we went to the unbelievably awful Prince of Persia. I quite like this quick as heck Conan drawing. I was going to clean it up but I think if I did it would lose what I like about it.

WHAM! Here's a ton of drawings.

2010-05-24T17:46:00.001-07:00

Bunch of things I've been working on. Some expression stuff, some fun drawings, the mandatory skeleton, and some new D&D art. Beware the Ha'arkun Suul!

Dragons! Beasties! Pirates! A FROG! AND SKELETONS!

2010-04-27T01:23:00.000-07:00

Ever notice how the more work you have to do the more elaborate your doodles get? Case in point. Had a bit of dragon and monster mania this week. A new Rhapsody of Fire album lit the old D&D fires again and set the Nerd Furnace ablaze. Also I get a free preview of Teletoon Retro. Watching The Banana Splits Adventure Show (or something). Man this is WEIRD!

The Watchmaker's Apprentice

2010-04-18T14:34:00.000-07:00

I am in love with Clockwork Quartet. They need to give me more songs though.

And is it a day that ends in Y? Have some skeletons. I really wish I'd thought to square off that cape.

I'm Baaaaaack!

2010-04-06T02:40:00.001-07:00

That's right folks. I have emerged triumphant from what can only be described as an epic journey through Ireland, London and Spain. So to make up from the lack of posting here's a page crammed full of doodles that were done in an annoyingly small sketchbook! Also some flash work doodles.

Perhaps one day I'll tell you the tale of The Animation That Almost Was. But not today.

Last post for a while...

2010-02-18T00:24:00.000-08:00

Well here we go folks. Without much of a plan I am firing myself, as though from a mighty cannon, to London, where will spend a good amount of time in museums and a variety of notorious places. I will then travel to Ireland and enjoy some quality time with my good buddy Mike who is kindly providing me with a home base from which I shall go on little adventures about the island. Then onto Granada to enjoy a little warmth before I journey back to good old fashioned Canada.

So before I go here's that pesky animation that got one total redo and I'm (as usual) not completely happy with.

AND!

One surprise piece. It's an unfinished test of The Collector. Sort of an initial design. His face will be getting a redo as his eyes don't read at all. Also they're splayed over so many layers they're hard to manage. Hence the test. More to come from this mysterious fellow later!

Until then, faithful readers,
Adieu!
Farewell!
Have a lovely February and March!
Enjoy the Olympics!
And don't burn the damn place down while I'm gone, eh?

It's February... which means it's time for the annual Valentine's Day (ish) Vampire drawing!

2010-02-07T22:16:00.000-08:00

So yeah... see title. Why is it always February that I go on a vampire kick? No idea.

**EDIT- I was bored so I added the lady vampire.

** THE RARE DOUBLE EDIT!!! Can't stop playing with these watercoloury vamps. Added the dazed bride. Also deleted the crappy vampire bat. Why'd I post that crappy drawing?

Back to our Regularly Scheduled MURDER!

2010-02-01T21:34:00.000-08:00

Yup. Conan obsession... fading. Interest in continuing Murdered series... rising! Hopefully I'll get more of these done before I leave for the UK. Oh didn't I mention? I'm I'm going for a EUROPEAN ADVENTURE! Which will mostly involve London and Ireland.

***EDIT! Congratulations Secret of Kells for getting an Oscar nomination! I sincerely hope you guys win it!

More of the same.

2010-01-23T16:59:00.000-08:00

Yup... on a bit of a kick for Conany stuff. But also working on some larger non Conan or MOTU related things. Hopefully some of that will get posted soon =)

Rampant Conanery

2010-01-16T11:22:00.000-08:00

Yup. Having a Conan themed drawing week. Which reminds me that I should really give Aaron back Rogues in the House.

2010: The Year of Deeds both Great and Terrible

2010-01-11T02:55:00.000-08:00

I don't know what that means yet. But I will! So Happy New Year folks!

The Last of 09

2009-12-21T06:34:00.001-08:00

Can't say I'll be sad to see this year go. Looking forward to 2010 however. Merry Christmas everybody and have a great New Year! I hope 2010 brings you happiness, success and all the good times a person can handle! If I can be a part of those goods times keep a chair and a glass of whiskey for me. And if I can't then drink that whiskey and put your feet up.

Cheers!

-Sean

Last of the Pitch stuff and some doodles.

2009-12-15T03:53:00.000-08:00

Gah! Work! Gah! Projects! GAH! Rehearsals! BLARGH!! SICK! Dammit, December, be less busy.

Hope everybody's having a good December! I'll have one more post this year I think then we can all bury 2009 and move on to 2010.

Is it pitch season already?

2009-12-01T00:36:00.000-08:00

It is! And it's not like I'm really busy at this time of year! HAHA!...Hahaha... haha..... oh dear.

This is me trying to hash out a style that I think will work for the initial pitch. Still LOTS of stuff to figure out. Been so long since I did flattish designy stuff. Usually I have a better idea of the characters involved but I've been having fun developing a cast of spooks without really considering how they factor into the story. Knowing how these things work though I think I've gotta stop designing goofy adult ghosts and make either a kid zombie or an animal companion or something. The idea of a talking pug has been mentioned.

Flapping Flapper

2009-11-16T12:16:00.000-08:00

I think I'm overworking this impaled drawing. Got as far as adding a mysterious figure in a lofty window but it was getting too far away from the look of the series. It's interesting to see how easily and what elements can make a Murderered drawing incongruous with the rest of the images.

Waxy complexion.

2009-11-09T13:16:00.000-08:00

More Murderered. Looking forward to my selection of dreary Pre-Christmas Post Hallowe'en movies and music. Some viewings of Willard are imminent along with some listenings of selected Decemberists songs. Looking at you, Mariner's Revenge. Also feeling like there might be quite a bit of Hammerfall and Blind Guardian. Whoo!

Also starting a new job that I'm very excited about. Working from home without an IT team frightens me a bit though to be honest. But mostly just very excited!

Skoal!

HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!

2009-10-31T13:51:00.000-07:00

Happy haunting everyone! Have a white bearded demon swineherd!

ALSO go check out Pumpkinrot's pictures. Spectacularly Hallowe'eny! http://pumpkinrot.blogspot.com/

Happy Anniversary, Dear.

2009-10-18T02:16:00.000-07:00

Another Murderered drawing. Trying to make it work with a "setting" in a way that I tried before with the poisoned drawing and wasn't happy with. I think this one works much better.

*edit* changed the image up a bit. Added the black roots that break up the bride's body and make her look a little more like part of the ground as opposed to floating in front of it... hopefully =)

*second edit* Can't sleep. Tried a one hour speedpainting where I actually used colour reference... well initially anyways then it kinda did its own thing.

Drawings from Winnipeg

2009-10-14T01:38:00.000-07:00

Well thanksgiving has come and gone which meant a trip out to Winnipeg. Not my favorite month to go traveling unfortunately but nice to see everybody back in The Peg. Didn't get much drawing done but here's all I got out of it. And if all does according to plan, that fellow sneaking through the graveyard may precipitate a short film.

A little furious with Myself

2009-09-30T21:49:00.001-07:00

OK... so here's the situation. I am WAY stressed out right now. And I took on the 11 seconds with less than 2 weeks to take it more or less from design to "finished." I had to miss a very important meeting today to try and fix some of the plethora of problems with it in the hopes of submitting it. I'm sitting here, it's 9:51 leaving me with a couple hours to get this posted without worry.

Or so I thought until I realized that the midnight submission time is Midnight *EASTERN* time.

So I am posting this god damn animation here. I am not happy with it but this is my way of throwing it violently against the digital wall and going "THERE."

draw draw draw...

2009-09-21T15:03:00.001-07:00

Some doodles while I'm procrastinating from finishing the 11 second challenge. I have to try and git'er done in 2 weeks since I had a bumpy start to September. I'm happy with it so far though so I might take some extra time come October to polish it off.

BTW the Blogfolio has been updated with my new work. I can't put the demo reel online because of copyright reasons unfortunately =PPP

Back on track

2009-08-31T23:18:00.001-07:00

Well folks, old contract almost done, onto new things. Hopefully my blogfolio will get updated in the next few weeks and a new demo reel will be up and functioning! Very exciting! In other news... I'm not quite done with summer. I need at least one more good weekend of beaching... but ... sniff sniff... is that the alluring scent of fall in the air? I can break out the sweatervest and tweed soon...!

Oh and here's some pics from Fright Fest. We don't have a pic of the jail set with all the cool masonry jar candles alight (An idea I ripped off from the Pumpkinrot blog, go check him out!) but we do have some good pics from the Mansion set which we recycled from last year's CityTV set that we built. The guy peering through the door is my buddy Ben and I'm the guy eating the rat (hard to see in the pic but I'm ripping its latex intestines out because that's how I roll) Also a huge thanks to Deadspider for going around and taking photographs pro-style with your pro-style tripod!

About Freaking Time!

2009-08-23T01:58:00.001-07:00

Didn't I say I was going to try and post weekly? I did say that didn't I? Well I'm a damn, dirty liar I suppose. So... poof! Here's some new drawings. Also does it still count as a speed painting if you retroactively go in and take 2 hours trying to make the colour look blockier?

Quickie!

2009-07-31T18:10:00.000-07:00

Heading out to the beach because it's ri-stupid-dicu-hot out here! More Fans! MORE ORANGE CREAMSCICLES! Diet be damned!

Incidentally the chubby guy was based off a fella I saw when was riding my bike home from the beach on Tuesday. I have no idea how he got a bathing suit that goes that far up a human torso but it looked good on him in a character-y sort of way.

Dungeon MASTAH!

2009-07-15T23:26:00.001-07:00

I missed being a Dungeon Master for a group of awesome nerds. So as a reward for being a diligent individual and finishing up the 11 second challenge last month I bought myself the new core rulebooks and set about making up a new campaign for my fellow ultranerds. And my favorite part about Being a game master is that I get LOADS of fodder for illustration. So here's a few recent things. I'm playing around with some speed painting brushes for giggles here too.

Animation! Whee!

2009-07-04T01:11:00.001-07:00

Long time no post, eh? Yeah... well I have an excellent excuse! This month I took all my spare time and entered the 11 Second Challenge. So I've been drawing a lot... but sequentially! So technically this counts as a couple hundred drawings.

Here's my entry. Also a drawing I did of the magician character and what might be approaching the final design of the boy which I have been agonizing over for a while now

May doodles.

2009-05-28T19:29:00.000-07:00

No finished stuff, just marker sketches and @ work flash doodles.

Weekly stuff

2009-05-04T00:27:00.000-07:00

been SUPER busy with some non-drawing-related projects lately folks so there's slim pickins lately. And Bus drawing season is ending with the onset of nice weather.

Not really happy with the "poison soup" Murderered drawing. I tried something new with it... more of a staged scene rather than a centred drawing with no real context. Will try this approach again later but I've already done two versions of this premise and I'm not really happy with either. This is the better one. Headless on the other hand I'm really rather fond of!

CINTIQ

2009-04-21T00:26:00.000-07:00

The CINTIQ is here! The CINTIQ is here! Hurray! It's big and lovely and heavy and intimidating! And only the Medium drawing is done with it! The rest are work/bus doodles. That old man is not my favorite drawing in the world but that's more or less what he looked like and he was just about the cutest old man I've ever seen. The way his skin wrinkled around his eyes made him look like he had little sunshine eyelashes. ADORABLE.

Elvira and Mummies!

2009-04-17T00:34:00.000-07:00

I love Elvira. She's my favorite. My favorite what? My favorite EVERYTHING. Been trying to cartoon her for years now. This is probably the closest I've gotten to something I like. And like I said... MORE FEZ!

Sun! Warmth!

2009-04-10T23:05:00.000-07:00

Despite my deep appreciation for gloom (and my fondness for the word "gloom") I have got ants in the pants for summer to start. SO here is my first outdoor drawing of the year in celebration of it not being too rainy to have a sketchbook outside!

My Goodness! April!

2009-04-05T22:12:00.001-07:00

Talking dog work continues. And wacom doodles rise in direct proportion to amount of scenes assigned! ALso some life drawings and sketches of a character for another project that will hopefully go ahead this summer.

PLUS! if I've never mentioned it Stephen Fry is a king among men.

Happy St. Patty's day + March 21 update

2009-03-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

No real work. Just doodling and having a bit of a laugh.

**EDIT! Hot damn I'm bored. here have some more drawings (splat)

Lousy Smarch Weather

2009-03-05T19:11:00.000-08:00

Actually it's quite pleasant today.

I'm battling quadrupeds again. Grr! Horses! BLaargh! Dogs!

And I was so pleasantly surprised by the positive response Murderered got I'm going to do more of them! Mr. Oakley mentioned a booklet would be a good idea. These are so much fun to do I completely agree!

Vampires for Valentines.

2009-02-12T21:02:00.000-08:00

February is vampire month, remember?

In other news, my Roy Contract ends this week and then it's on to Martha Speaks season 2 animation.

But for now I have 2 weeks off. Here's a sneak peak at a WIP.

Doctor Who is awesome.

2009-02-01T19:30:00.000-08:00

Why, oh why did it take me so long to start watching the new Doctor Who series? Why I ask you?!?! WHY?! Well anyways.... zombie lady was inspired by the super awesome third episode. And have some life drawings and sketches to boot!

And now I go to have sushi.

Zap! EDIT Now with 200% more KAPOW

2009-01-16T22:39:00.000-08:00

It's weird. I don't really like sci fi. I like some sci fi. As a kid I used to like sci fi. But I'm finding it hard to rediscover what triggers the interest. I watched my new iron man dvd and this painting happened during the movie. Not a huge fan but it's very different from what I normally try and do (look! Not a skull in sight!) so I figured I'd throw it up there. Anybody out there into this kinda stuff feel free to fire advice my way!

**EDIT

Had some more stuff I wanted to post and didn't feel like it deserved it's own entry. So I'm tacking it on to the space battle experiment thing. The Pig Person of the Padulang is from the avalanche blog topic. I like drawing pig people so... you know any excuse I can get. Also the sketches! the more scenic ones were going to be paintings but my robot whim has expired and that old man in the study thing is suspiciously like an image of Deckard Cain from the DiabloIII website so... no dice.

Mephistopheles, Canterville Ghost and randoms

2009-01-10T15:27:00.000-08:00

Wow... yeah work is pretty nuts. Funny though how when I'm really pressed for time at work, I do twice the amount of drawings in my spare time at home. Not sure why that is exactly. It also helps that I'm working on a big lovely cintiq. So I took some playtime with it on Friday. Really happy with the flash drawings. I have no idea why my flash stuff is so much more guestural than my pencil stuff which is stiffer generally. Maybe if I make-believe that my sketchbook is a vector-based drawing program...

2009

2009-01-03T18:10:00.000-08:00

Allright! First post of '09. Hopefully I'll get more traditional animation done this year. I'm also on a new show called Badly Drawn Roy doing honest to goodness keyframe animation! Which I'm very VERY excited and honoured to be doing since it means I'm going to be working with some of the best animators in Vancouver! I just hope the schedule allows me to glean some of their mad skillz in the midst of what looks like a 2 month work crunch =)

Cheers to everybody and all the best in 2009!

Merry Christmas Everybody!

2008-12-24T17:01:00.000-08:00

Well here I am blogging on Christmas Eve. First time I've been at a computer in some time and I'm having difficulty responding to and sending email so if you've mailed me in the last week it'll be a bit getting back =)

Anyways if I may be permitted a little nostalgic moment I'd like to share something with y'all that means a lot to me. Back when I was a kid Eaton's department stores in Winnipeg used to host a wonderful little Dickensian village set with with fairy tale displays in the windows. I haven't seen these things in years since Eaton's department stores were closed and in the later years the figures and sets had fallen into disrepair. But this year I learned that the Manitoba Children's Museum had erected the old set and it had been repaired. Looking into those old windows that used to be so much taller than I used to be was a real treat. All these figures and sets were hand made by people who apparently used to work for Eaton's. They're slightly crude, but look at them! All hand made little wonderful things! Here's a picture or two from Winnipeg and from the old village sets. Bring a tear to me old eye they do.

Everybody have a Merry Christmas, a wonderful holiday and a fabulous New Year!

-Sean

December! Whoop!

2008-12-09T22:23:00.000-08:00

A couple friends of mine were in a burlesque performance and then I had another day of Burlesque Life Drawing which for the record is WAY more fun than regular life drawing although it's kinda dark in there so my hand shadow was over my sketchbook half the time. Still super fun. And Janis and Felicia and I went to the aquarium last Wednesday so I got to draw the turtle again and there were few enough people for me to have an actual sit down in front of the croc tank!

Oh yeah! There's a little short there as well... I almost forgot! Long story short that little guy in the scarf a couple posts down was a drawing that was done when i was really bored in the morning and then I started animating him a little. The whole thing is drawn entirely in flash and every frame is coloured by hand. Which for the record takes a long time. Hope y'all like it!

Kids, girls, fish and monsters.

2008-12-01T20:30:00.001-08:00

Bunch of stuff. More exciting things probably next week.

So... coalition government, eh? I can't decide if that's going to be stupider and less productive than a conservative minority. Probably. Making a deal with the Bloc never turns out well for anybody. The NDP on the other hand... Well it'll be an exciting new year in politics

November "holiday"

2008-11-17T07:13:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody! I'm still here! I'm unemployed for the moment (new contract starting in December) so I decided to take November as something of a vacation. And three days into that I got bored and started a bunch of new projects. So here's some drawings from the costume lifedrawing, some library people drawings and other assorted doodles. The kid walking through the snow was a quickie that kind of expanded into sort of a new big-ish project. More on that in future posts. But for the record that's where it started at 5:00 in the morning a couple weeks ago.
The coloured thing is my rendition of Ulmo from The Silmarillion. I meant it to be a companion piece to the Morgoth illustration I did... heck I guess a year and a half ago now. Not sure if I like it as much as Morgoth but oh well. It's better than my first attempt. I'm having a real problem making ulmo look.... watery... like there's a sense of depth to the body of water. That's a hard thing to abstract as it turns out. I guess I should have tried some little colour studies before I launched into the full thing. Live and learn I suppose.

Happy Hallowe'en everybody!

2008-10-31T03:42:00.000-07:00

And now Ladies and Gentlemen, without further ado I take great pleasure in introducing you to Dr. Aleister Grisbane and The Creature! For the record all of The Creature's gears actually work and his heart DOES pump blood. Good times were had by all! Also note how Cookie Monster is projecting a beam of desctructive energy from his mouth behind The Doctor. We all barely escaped alive!

Part 2. Now the exciting and hopefully not overly vague conclusion to Skin and Bones! Kind of rushed the end here but... It's Hallowe'en! I'm tired! I'm curious to know if the premise reads at all.

Here are some pictures from the breakfast television set that my buddy Ben and I build for City TV. Good times. I am too tall to be shot properly on this thing though =P That mirror is a 2 way mirror so if the people there so desire they can make spectral images form in it. Not sure if they're gonna use that bit though. But I like to know it's there.

I will update this post with pictures of my costume as they become available since I've only done crappy cell phone pics of the makeup test up until this point.

Ooo, ooo, ooooooo......

2008-10-28T00:56:00.000-07:00

Part 1. I've always wanted to do a comic. The reason I don't is overthinking. So my "strategy" here is to run blindly at a short, non committal subject based on Raffi's children's song "Skin and Bones." Turning out OK. But whatever. It's a learning thing.

Also this pen doodle is the final design of my Hallowe'en costume. it's looking actually pretty faithful to the design if quite a bit more elabourate (The helmet is epic)

Pics with Part 2. Hope you're all having a great Hallowe'en week! Go out and support your local Haunted Houses!